Naptime Confidential: Not quite ‘Animal House,’ but a ROAD TRIP

Monday: The Times Union has started a new initiative that I’m part of. Today is the first one. I’m nervous as a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs. I get all set and am starting to take a breath when I sense something. I look up and there are G, Baby A and a family friend. Pleasant surprise or distraction, you may be asking. It was great. I got a couple hugs, and Baby A watched Mom in action.

Tuesday: I have an evening work event so we have the bright idea (read sarcasm here) that G and Baby A will meet me at the newspaper so we can go straight to dinner for all of us. Unfortunately, I am hung up longer than expected. We get to the parking lot of Red Robin, where Baby A loses it. I end up hopping into the back seat of the CRV to give her a bottle while G goes inside to order takeout.

Wednesday: I am in tears within minutes from getting home from work. Why? Baby Arolls over for mommy, 5 times!!!! It seems silly that I cried. What milestones have you cried over?

Thursday: Baby A discovers she has volume and is infatuated with it. On the one hand, this is an exciting and cool development – seeing her vocalize the phonics we have been demonstrating. On the other hand, she has one shriek she is practicing that sounds like two cats fighting or, worse if you happened to step into another room, she is injured.

Friday: We are taking our first overnight trip starting tomorrow. I guess it is time to figure out what to take. G and I, it seems, are both intimidated by the idea so we have procrastinated – severely. So now we are up quite late doing laundry and packing everything we own.

Saturday: Shockingly, we are on the road by 7 a.m. en route to the middle of Connecticut. We have everything including Baby A’s tub because, apparently, I don’t know whether you have heard this, there aren’t showers in the hotels in Connecticut. Baby A does great, though the changing table at the reststop elicits sad, tiny whimpering cries. Luckily, it is a quick change. What tricks do you have for creating a familiar atmosphere so baby/toddler are more comfortable? Or do you white-knuckle it (of course, teeth-locked-in-fake-smile for nosy strangers)?

Sunday: We survive our first night in a hotel. Baby A is more restless than usual but gets her regular sleep amount. I toss-and-turn with a blooming sinus infection, nerts! Between the two days, she meets tons of friends and former colleagues and – at least in our biased view – dazzles them all.

p.s. I’m sorry this is a day later than usual. We got to Memphis to visit my family Wednesday and I just got internet access! Next week’s post will include air travel (whew!) and Baby A’s debut.

Tena says: @Adrianne — I’m not sure whether you’ll see my reply because it is so long after (if you read this week’s post, we were without internet access most of the week). Anyway, hah! I’m mostly gullible too (ask my nephews), but I was mocking my husband and I. Because we had never traveled with Baby A before, we had absolutely no idea what to bring and didn’t really think through what would be available to us once we got to CT.